Antec has released “a revolutionary cylindrical turbine fan blade design,” a new seven-bladed fan they call the TrueQuiet™ Pro 120, we find out if it truly is quiet.
Product on Review: Antec TrueQuiet™ Pro 120
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Antec
Street Price: £12.98 / $18.99 (At time of review)
Antec has released “a revolutionary cylindrical turbine fan blade design,” a new seven-bladed fan they call the TrueQuiet™ Pro 120. This is aimed at being the quietest fan you have ever used. The design follows the TrueQuiet™ fans in showing off an elegant curved frame. But then there is that “revolutionary” ring rim attached to the tips of the fan’s blades. How well does it cool? Is it truly quiet?
This fan is unique. Just after the turn of the millennium you could buy a fan with a spinning rim attached to the tips of its blades. But that fan was driven by its rim, and made lots of noise. It disappeared not long after it was released. Antec, on the other hand, intends this to be among the quietest of fans. Because the rim is attached to the broad tips of its seven blades it does not produce the turbulence that other fans make. That should make it quiet. You can read about it here. One interesting side note is that with the rim spinning along, the fan takes a while to slow to a stop.
Antec describes their little gem:
Bring proven cooling and Quiet Computing™ to your system with Antec’s TrueQuiet Pro 120! Using a revolutionary cylindrical turbine fan blade design, the TrueQuiet Pro 120 gives a greater cooling surface area while decreasing turbulence, vibration and noise, netting an exceptional airflow-to-noise ratio. The TrueQuiet Pro 120 also includes a convenient 2-speed switch for choosing either low 600 RPM or high 1200 RPM cooling settings, while included silicone grommets and tool-less mounting pins ensures Quiet Computing™ for your system. Backed by a 2-year limited warranty on parts and labor, upgrade your fans today and add optimal cooling and functionality to your PC with Antec’s TrueQuiet Pro 120.
From the Antec blog cited above:
By making the fan blade and the frame one piece, we have effectively 1) increased the cooling surface area and 2) reduced noise and turbulence. But a superior fan blade design only takes you so far. We are Antec, and that means Quiet Computing™ is everything to us, which is why we’ve put silicone grommets into the mounting holes and included silicone mounting pins to absorb as much (remaining) fan vibration as possible. Oh yeah, the mounting pins are tool-less as well, making the fan that much easier to install!
Technical Specifications
Antec tells us what to expect from their TrueQuiet™ fans:
• Two-speed control
• Uniquely-designed fan blades increase air flow while reducing turbulence and noise
• Silicone grommets to reduce vibration
• Tool-less mounting pins
• Included 3-pin to Molex adapter
• Uniquely-designed fan blades increase air flow while reducing turbulence and noise
• Silicone grommets to reduce vibration
• Tool-less mounting pins
• Included 3-pin to Molex adapter
They don’t say what the bearing is, but it does have a strong magnet in it. You can pick up metal objects with the exhaust side of the hub. If you take the next step and peel off the circular label you will find a rectangular label covering the center spot. Under that is a 5mm by 1.7mm disk sitting in a form-fitting plastic pocket. By itself, this tiny disk is a strong magnet. Remove it and the blade assembly drops 2-3mm when the output side is up. Replace it and the blade assembly clings to the fan frame. In essence, this little magnetic disk holds the assembly in place while allowing it to spin freely. Elegant.
Specifications:
Packaging & Bundle
The TrueQuiet™ Pro 120 comes in a cardboard box inside a plastic box. It is easier to see without the plastic:
Antec includes with TrueQuiet™ Pro 120 a Molex 3-pin adapter that has an RPM reporting line and four vibration isolators to continue the vibration-damping work begun by the silicone grommets:
Test Setup & Methodologies
The Antec TrueQuiet™Pro 120 was tested on the same Megahalems setup as the recent Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review.
Test Setup
CPU Intel Core i7 860 at 3.6GHz and stock
Cooling Prolimatech Megahalems
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3P
Memory G.Skill 8GB 1600MHz low profile RAM
Storage Kingston SSDNow V+100 64GB SSD
PSU Seasonic X-750
Sound Level Meter Tenma 72-942
Stress software and CPU temp logger OCCT 3.1
Cooling Prolimatech Megahalems
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3P
Memory G.Skill 8GB 1600MHz low profile RAM
Storage Kingston SSDNow V+100 64GB SSD
PSU Seasonic X-750
Sound Level Meter Tenma 72-942
Stress software and CPU temp logger OCCT 3.1
The fan was tested seven times with the switch set to High on the 3.6GHz overclocked system, with the results averaged. After establishing that the fan did not fare well on the overclocked system at its Low setting, it was tested eight times at stock — switch set to Low. The results were then averaged.
The Antec TrueQuiet™ Pro was also tested in the open. At the High setting the 120mm ran 1216 RPM in free air, with an equivalent one-meter sound pressure level (SPL) of 22 dBA. Antec specifications are 1200 RPM and 18.8 dBA. At Low speed the 120mm ran 658 RPM and 13 dBA. Remember that this setup cannot measure noise below about 12-13 dBA, and this fan was definitely quieter than what was measured. Antec specifications at the Low speed setting are 600 RPM, 10.8 dBA. 10-11 dBA sounds about right.
The next three pages will show the fan performance on the heatsink, arranged by name, by temperature over ambient, and by sound pressure level. A fourth page will show performance on the non-overclocked system.
Performance: Overclocked System (Arranged by Name)
Performance: Overclocked System (Arranged by Temp/Ambient)
Performance: Overclocked System (Arranged by Sound Pressure Level)
Performance: Non-Overclocked System
Conclusion
The Antec TrueQuiet™ Pro 120 is a truly innovative fan. Its “cylindrical turbine fan blade design” not only helps it to be quiet, but the stability imparted by the ring rim allows the seven blades to be widest where they move the fastest – at the circumference.
The Antec TrueQuiet™ Pro 120 succeeds in its mission to be quiet. Look at the SPL chart (page 7). Few other fans at comparable noise spin as fast as the TQP 120. In the TOA chart (page 6) most of its competitors are 140mm fans.
And then there is the magnet. Short of destroying the fan, the bearing itself cannot be accessed. But the magnet may be a way of solving the problem that sleeve bearings have when their airflow is pointed upward. It is strong enough to pull the blade assembly firmly up into the frame where it can spin freely. No sagging or excess vibrations with this fan. The magnetic pill may be an inexpensive response to the fancy bearings seen on other fans. A definitive answer will have to wait until someone destroys one of these beauties to inspect the bearing. Until then, enjoy the innovation.
Pros
+ Quiet
+ Beautiful
+ Switchable Low and High settings
+ Special care taken to reduce transmitted vibrations
+ 3-pin Molex adapter has an RPM-reporting line
Cons
– Easy to forget yourself and grab this fan by the rim, which may bend the shaft.
+ Quiet
+ Beautiful
+ Switchable Low and High settings
+ Special care taken to reduce transmitted vibrations
+ 3-pin Molex adapter has an RPM-reporting line
Cons
– Easy to forget yourself and grab this fan by the rim, which may bend the shaft.
The Antec Antec TrueQuiet™ Pro 120 is a radical step away from other fans. Indeed, it breaks the boundaries for case fans. From the “cylindrical turbine fan blade” (ring rim) to the magnetic pill in the center of it all, this is a truly innovative fan. As such, it deserves a Vortez Creative award.
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
